Lord Of Shadows
by loki98065
Summary: The league of shadows, a guild as powerful has Aniz Ooal Gown. one member stayed behind until the end. and fate cast him to a well known place world. With an old enemy stalking his steps, he has to learn to embrace what he has become and learn that there are worse things in the world than the shadows.
1. Chapter 1

**So have loved reading the overlord light novels on here. so I thought I'd give it a try my self and see how we go.**

 **Constructive criticism is always welcome. Be gentle lol**

 **In the year 2138 AD there was a term: DMMO-RPG.**

 **That word was an acronym for "Dive Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game".**

 **These games were played by connecting a dedicated console to the brain via a neuronal nano-interface — an intracerebral nanocomputer network, created from the fusion of cyber- and nanotechnology.**

 **These were games that allowed one to enter a virtual world and experience it as though it were real life.**

 **And among the myriad DMMO-RPGs that thronged the market, one of them stood head and shoulders above the others:**

 **YGGDRASIL.**

 **This game had been painstakingly developed and released twelve years ago, in 2126.**

 **Compared to other DMMO-RPGs of the time, YGGDRASIL's selling point was "player freedom".**

 **It had over two thousand basic and advanced job classes.**

 **Every class had a maximum of fifteen levels, and so in order to reach the overall level cap of one hundred, one would need to take at least seven different classes. However, players could take as many classes as they wanted as long as they met each class's prerequisites. A player could even take a hundred classes at level one each, although that was very inefficient. As such, in this system, it was virtually impossible to make identical characters unless one was deliberately trying to do so.**

 **In addition, one could use various creator tools (sold separately) to fully customize one's armor, weaponry, flavor text, appearance, and other cosmetic settings.**

 **A vast playing field awaited its players. There were nine worlds in total: Asgard, Alfheim, Vanaheim, Nidavellir, Midgard, Jotunheim, Niflheim, Helheim, and Muspelheim.**

 **It boasted a massive world, numerous classes, and freely customizable appearances.**

 **These features ignited the creative spirits around the world, but was most popular in it Japanese players, and sparked what would later be known as a stylistic revolution. So popular was it that whenever the word "DMMO-RPG" was mentioned in Japan, listeners would immediately think of YGGDRASIL.**

 **Of all the guilds that arose over the years, one stood head and shoulders above the rest. Ainz Ooal Gown rose above all others becoming legend to the other players in Yggdrasil as the mightiest of guilds, unconquerable better to throw yourself off the top of the world tree than go up against that group, was the general consensuses. And truly they lived up to there legend.**

 **But as with most story's, there's more to it than most people knew. There was one other guild that was just as dangerous.**

 **Where people would talk about Ainz Ooal Gown on all the boards and taverns across the realms share information and try and think of ways to gain an edge on them and knock them off the top spot. No one would talk about this guild. Few knew of them, no one knew how many members they had or where their base was. Many went looking for it none came close to finding it. They called themselves the League of Shadows. They didn't look for fame as others did, where Aniz Ooal Gown was a hammer smashing all who faced them. The League was a stiletto in the dark. Walls couldn't seem to keep them out. They circumvented The toughest base defenses, destroying they're targets or stealing guilds most prized treasures seemingly at will. And leaving only a single black rose has proof that they were ever there. They were thieves\spy's\assassins of the highest order. And for a price that would beggar most kings, they could be brought. Taking no sides in the endless guild wars, they grew wealthy and powerful serving all sides. Owing loyalty to none.**

 **But as with all good things, they must come to an end...**

 **Chapter 1**

25 minutes till server shutdown.

Tyr lord of shadows leaned back on his great throne carved from a single huge piece of soul glass, watching the light play across the faceted surface with the occasional trapped soul rising up to the surface to beat helplessly at the surface before being dragged back down to some unknowable depths, by some nameless terror. And sighed. His god tier Ninja amour seemed to be leaking living shadows as he looked around the great hall gently tapping his taloned gauntlet on his armrest. And surveyed about the great hall and all the trophy's that lined the walls. Thinking about all the great times he and his friends, had, had over the years. Wrecked amours and weapons from all of the guilds greatest enemies lined the walls. In pride of place, a great holy rune war hammer (Gav-Ree-Ayl) floated gently in it's own column of light. Next to the throne.

As he looked over at it he had to smile as his mind drifted back in time to his greatest achievement. The assassination of the head of the most powerful guild of Templar knights in all the nine worlds. Four years earlier they had launched a massive campaign, gathering all the other powerful human-centered guilds and joining together with the aim of purging all non-humans from the nine realms. Led by the holy knight Hugues De Payens. Well known around the chat rooms as being a serious ass hat. he was also known for being something of a charismatic genius when it came to leading troops and getting people to follow him in spite of his shortcomings. The league learned of his plans months beforehand but kept it to themselves. While they planned on how to use this information for there own gain.

When the Templars launched their crusade. Everyone was caught completely off guard, and the Crusade ran rampant over the nine worlds for weeks. Pking everyone in their path. What no one knew was that the league had several spies in the Crusade, so they knew where and when they were going to hit and how hard.

At first, they raided any interesting guild bases first just before the crusade showed up helped themselves to the best bits of treasure. And getting out before anyone was the wiser. Thus the blame fell to the crusade on all the lost treasure. They then started to sell the movements and plans of both sides to anyone with the cash.

Aniz Ooal Gown really stepped up there helping out all the non-humanoid races forming a leadership and giving everyone a place they could rally to. The war raged for months moving back and forth across the worlds. The destruction was on an unimaginable scale in the game. The devs loved it.

Eventuality Momonga himself had contacted him with a contract to destroy the leadership of the crusade.

Momonga was one of the few people outside of The Leauge who knew anything about it. Tyr and he had formed an unlikely friendship with him back in the early days of the game which had carried on down through the years, helping each other out from time with either stealth or brawn whatever was needed to get the job done.

Unable to say no to that type of challenge. It took the whole The Leauge of Shadows to pull it off, but they managed to feed the Templar leadership false information about a meeting where several world class items were being gathered together and we're going to be used to destroy the Templars main base. So they had brought an army of several thousand players to stop them. What they found was an army waiting in ambush for them. The battle had raged for the better part of a day, with neither side able to gain a clear advantage.

Then The league had stepped out from the shadows into the light for the first time. With him riding a never before seen titanic seven-headed dragon (TIAMAT wife to Níðhöggr Mother of dragons.) Well, let's just say they quickly put to rest any thoughts that a guild of spies were weak. They'd rolled over the battlefield felling players left and right. In the chaos, he'd found himself face to face with Hugues De Payens, leader of the crusade. as the war raged all around them, he'd challenged him to single combat winner takes all. Smiling to himself as he looked over to the floating war hammer. That had been a fight for the ages as they had both used all there considerable, resources and skill to drive the other into oblivion. That fight more than any other cemented, the guilds legend. And a hatred between the so called holy Hugues De Payens and himself. Hugues had lost everything in that fight.

Winner takes all. Was a very rare form of PvP that both party's had to agree to. It meant that instead of the loser losing 5 levels from there character and several items from there inventory. The loser would lose not only all of there gear but everything in their inventory and all of there money, and be reduced to a level one character. As you can imagine not many people would be crazy enough to take that type of risk in one battle. the shame from his defeat led is own guild to vote him out, and him being hunted across the nine realms by every non-human player. It wouldn't be wrong to say he was the most hated player in the game. He'd sworn revenge even if he had to burn the nine realms to the ground to do it. The guild had kept track of him for several months afterward, but he kept getting Pked so he could never get his level high enough to be considered a threat. And then the guild members had started to drift away as they had lost interest in the game. Once you've scaled the heights where else is there to go. They had never been a large guild, to begin with so Tyr had lost track of him. He did wonder what happened to him, whether he had stuck at the game or quit like so many others. He was a lot of unpleasant things, to say the least, but he was a challenge and worthy foe, one that few others had offered to his guild over the years.

A gentle grunt, broke him out of his reverie, turning from the hammer and looking behind his throne he saw Tiamat shift two of her heads slightly in her sleep mode causing a small waterfall of gold to shift on her massive treasure horde, which took up more than half the halls great space. Smiling to himself, at his faithful guardian she was his greatest creation, taking over 3 years and more wealth than even he liked to think about to build her. But she was well worth it. Seven heads each able to use a different elemental attack, she was a terrifying force of nature. giving her a huge backstory, hiding here after Níðhöggr had gone mad and started attacking the world tree in his hunger. then becoming trapped here once she found this place to hide. He'd made her a warm mothering sort who looked after the whole base and kept the other NPC's in line and out of trouble. in spite of her huge OP levels, she was a gentle sort preferring to talk, to sort out problems rather than fighting. Even though he'd only really ever got to use her that one time. She'd more than proven her worth. He'd put her to sleep not wanting her to be awake at the end.

Waving his hand Janus brought up the game clock, only 20 minutes till the server shut down. He'd hoped a few other members might have shown up to his invite. but it looked like everyone else had truly moved on. he'd been the only person here in months.

Janus Let his mind wander about how his base. It was unique as far as he knew, and the key to The Leagues great success over the years. It was a floating castle. this in of it's self wasn't so special. There were several that could be found around the game. With 10 levels it was a powerful base which the guild members had spent considerable time and money increasing in size and power over the years. But what made it truly unique though were three things, the first was that the base was apart from the nine realms. Which made spying very easy for several of the information based players and NPC's while here they could observe any unprotected areas on any of the worlds that were in view from the tower that was the tenth floor. The second was that there was only one original access point and it was so well hidden apart from him no one had ever found it. The third was, and most players would say sodding Devs. Was an OP ability that came with control of the base, that was the gate system. Normally there were several portals on each world that could take you to other various worlds. but there were all well know and mapped out by everyone. so everyone knew where everyone was going depending on the portals they were using. But the Nexus was Unique in that it had it's own gates system that bypassed the normal means of getting around the game.

In the guild lore, the story went that the castle was the first thing created by Ymir the first Jotunn from the void before creation. Making it unique in that that it was beyond space and time. The gate system was created by Ymir to travel the cosmos and see how the worlds he had created were doing. The gates were a secret way of moving about the nine realms. Which allowed Tyr and his guild to appear almost anywhere. So there was no need to use any of the frequented portals from world to world and allowed them to bypass everyone's notice and able to move about the worlds unseen by anyone.

Gliding down the great steps from his throne and across the hall he slowly walked out onto a large balcony that seemed to be suspended above a vast void. And looked up. Worlds hung suspended above his head, Alfheim, Svartalfheim, Jotunheim, Muspellheim, Niflheim. Slowly drifting by, stretching away into seeming infinity, he knew if he waited long enough that'd he'd be able to see all nine worlds drift past. The unique sight never got old, he'd miss it when it was gone. With only a few minutes left he thought about logging out. He had a long day tomorrow. But figured a few more minutes wouldn't hurt and he wanted to impress this moment into his memory for all time.

And from such simple choices, are the fates of worlds decided.

23.59.50...23.59.55...00.00

so that's the first chapter I hope you liked it. will get started on the second soon as.


	2. Chapter 2

_The road to hell is not paved with good intentions._

 _It's paved with those who had them._

 **Chapter 2**

 **15 minutes till server shut down.**

Hugues De Payens, who was once the knight most holy, lord of light, dark bane and several other lofty titles. Clenched his fists so hard that the marble balcony he was leaning against began to crack under the pressure.

The last of the fireworks display in Asgard was winding down and most people had already left the system. The beauty of the display was lost on him as he looked inwards, ignoring the magnificent display of light and colours that were lighting up the night sky.

Silently five fingers knelt behind him waiting for orders, as he fumed at the injustice of it all.

Never able to track down the one who was responsible for all of his woes. The loss of his title, his guild, all of his equipment, his reputation as one of the systems most powerful players.

After his defeat the Templars had, had enough of war they'd said. And wanted to move onto other things. When he had been unwilling to let it go. And continued to try and recruit soldiers to start the crusade again. They'd voted to kick him out, of the guild he'd created. His hatred stilled burned as hot and bright today has the day he'd lost everything. But his hatred burned hottest for Tyr his most hated enemy.

After he'd been kicked out of his guild he'd spent months slinking from world to world like a whipped cur trying to rebuild what he'd lost. But every time he came close to building himself back up, some dammed group or other would suddenly show up and PK him till he had nothing left worth taking. He was sure Tyr had been supplying his location to other players to keep him weak and out of his way.

One day he had got to the point, where it was either come up with a new way of doing things or quit the game. So he rebuilt himself as a completely new player, it went against everything he stood for, but he'd used the last of his in game money to buy a rare mask artefact that could hide his character name and alignment. And has he had become more powerful he had been careful to upgrade the mask. At his current class 100 level, he had managed to make it a Divine level piece of equipment, it now possed several other powerful abilities on top of it's ability to keep him hidden, if he had, to be honest, it was his favourite piece of equipment. Only a high level seer had any hope of finding him and only then if they were using 10 tier divinations spells would they have a chance of finding him. Most people thought he had quit the game years ago. His plan had always been to hunt down Tyr down one day...

Unnoticed the balcony finally gave up the ghost and crumbled under his grip.

All these years of hard work and money wasted. He'd clawed his way back up to the pinnacle of a class of a 100 player. Though after the betrayal of his guild he had decided he could only trust himself so he had custome built his own squad of five other NPC's. Having so many NPC's accompanying him, without a guild base for support had cost a fortune in real world money to build and equip them. but it had been worth it to have a group he could absolutely trust at his back. Each of them was a masterpiece of build and design (all human based of course.) They were his children, and he couldn't be prouder of them if they were his real children. Each of them had performed far beyond what he could have hoped for. When he'd had to start rebuilding himself. He looked over them,

 **Bane** \- Lord of light. Right hand of god righteous vengeance.

 **Gilgamesh** \- Dark knight protector of the faithful

 **Pala** – Holy mother gentle healer

 **Yntar Sheldblazon** – Bard she whose voice brings comfort to the righteous and fear to those who dwell in darkness

 **Eilistraee** – The dark maiden. Huntress of all who would do evil under the light of the moon.

One advantage to being knocked back down to level one and losing all of his classes and abilities had been that, of a totally fresh start. he'd rebuilt himself and his team back up to be the ultimate adversary to The League Of Shadows. He had chosen the **I** **nquisitor class**. To balance out against Tyr's Thief\Assassin build. It had taken a long time for him to come to terms with how he had lost, that final fight. And even longer to come to the realization that Tyr had probably out been playing him since before he'd even launched the Crusade. The act which was supposed to cement his name in the annals of legend as the best player ever. It was hard to admit that he had been outsmarted. IRL he'd started out with less than nothing as a ward of the state from the age of 10 after his parents had been killed in a plane crash. He had quickly realised he had to be better, faster, stronger, smarter than everyone else if he wanted to avoid spending his life in a gutter. He had clawed his way up to a high powered defence lawyer, Women loved him and men wanted to be him. In and out of the game world. He was a winner born. And then some unknown pipsqueak had shown up and taken it all away from him.

He had spent years searching for any trace of him or his base in the game, but he was a ghost and he never left a trail that he could find. Or worse the number of false leads that he had run down, well anyone else would have quit looking long ago. He had made it a point, to study all of his attacks and methods that he could find, and had over time come to grudgingly admit that it wasn't just luck that had lead to his defeat. Tyr led his guild in a careful, methodical way, he studied his targets came up with a perfectly made plan to suit the situation to get what he wanted from his target. Never too proud to back off and get his people to safety in the rare times that things had blown up in his face. He sometimes caught himself wondering who he was IRL.

As a last ditch attempt, he had emailed him to meet at the place of there last battle at dawn on the last day to have it out one last time, before the servers shut down. But he had never replied. And in a few minutes, it was all coming to an end.

The fireworks had finally ended, the city was completely dark and quiet for the first time that he could ever remember. And without the city lights, he could clearly see the night sky for the first time. The swath of stars was truly breathtaking.

While in one part of his mind he had to acknowledge the beauty about him. Most of his mind was still on the burning point that he had finally and would never be able to balance the scales...

Waving his hand, he brought up the in game clock, 1 minute till shut down.

Taking a deep breath and trying to relax a bit he turned from the balcony and took a last look at the kneeling five fingers of his hand. He had dressed all of them in there best armour and equipment for the shutdown. The combined glow from all of there equipment was quite something.

Hugues gave the command.

"Rise my compatriots."

feeling the need for some final words. A soft rustle of cloth and armour as all of them rose, awaiting there next order.

"Thank you, each of my compatriots, each of you has stood by me through thick and thin. We have travelled the nine worlds and seen some amazing sights. I hope to meet again in the next life. It has been an honour to lead you all."

Hugues brought his fist to his chest in a salute, each of the NPC'S did the same and bowed back to him. 23.59.59...00.00...00.00.01

* * *

Name: **Hugues De Payens**

Position: leader of the hand.

Location: Tower in Asgard palace ninth realm

Alignment +300 lawful good

Race: Human

Guild Weapon: none

Racial levels:

LvL 15 Inquisitor

LvL 15 Weapons Master

LvL 15 Inquisitor Grandmaster

LvL 10 interrogator - Psychic

Class Levels:

LvL 15 Night stalker

LvL 15 Seer

LvL 10 Ranger

LvL 05 Watcher

LvL 05 Illusionist

 **Inquisitor Bio -** Inquisitor class only available to the human race. Inquisitors are made to hunt things that hide in the dark bringing a wide range of skills and abilities to the hunt. Able to hunt even the most skilled of thieves and assassins. Able to neutralise or use similar ability's to match their prey. these men and women are hunters of the highest calibre. One of human kinds greatest protectors these stoic warriors rarely seek fame or glory knowing that to step into the light is to make themselves a target to those they hunt.

Lore says that an Inquisitor can track a single snowflake through a snowstorm.

 **Class 100 Player**


	3. Nexus Floor Plan

**So I thought of a few different ways I could show the layout of Nexus, so decided on a short bio for everyone, I've gotten thought out so far. I will update this over time as the story progresses.**

 **Nexus Guild Bio:**

 **The guild was built by a small group of players that wanted to play primarily as spies and assassins, rather than the world ending powers that most players aimed for. Not to say that they are incapable of the brute force approach, but they have only taken that approach only once in their guilds history.**

 **Tyr carefully gathered the best and brightest from across the nine realms for this group over many years. Unlike most guilds Nexus didn't discriminate against race, all they cared about was skill and ability. Tyr led them since the inception of the guild with ruthless charm and precision.**

 **All Floor guardians should be considered lvl 100 NPC's**

* * *

 **Floor one - land of crystals and earth elementals. This floor is built to be a series of huge caverns filled with up to house crystals of various sizes and earth-based formations. Filled with Golems, Elementals and dwarf sentries. This floor can be mined for low to mid-level resources.**

 **Guardian** **Name - Usal**

 **Race - Crystal golem**

 **Class - Monk**

 **Weapon – fists**

* * *

 **Second floor - Full of small floating islands, above which is a generally is always sunny, but the weather can be altered by the floor guardian in several different ways to hinder invaders. Below the floating islands, endless lighting storms rage causing massive damage to anyone who is unfortunate enough to fall into the swirling maelstrom. Also, this is where the Eyrie is located, which is the interrogation holding area for prisoners. Savitar is one of the few NPC's that was created to be evil. Once a simple air elemental till he was caught by a group of evils wizards, they wanted to control the weather over a vast area and thought they could do so if they controlled a powerful enough elemental. So using several experimental spells and rituals. They increased Savitars powers far beyond that of a simple elemental, so much so that the wizards had to build a special containment vessel for him to contain his power since his new found power was consuming his form. They used several hundred special crows, these crows must constantly fly in an impossible pattern to maintain his form and power. This Process also currpted his netural nature. Once the experiment was complete, Savitars powers far outstripped the wizards who had created him. So he destroyed them. Then going on a massive rampage across the land. Before meeting BombDrop who managed to catch and tame him somehow...?**

 **Guardian** **-** **Savitar** **Speed**

 **Race - Corrupted greater Air elemental.**

 **Class - Weather Wizard**

 **Weapon – Knives**

* * *

 **3rd and 4th floors - The third and fourth floors were joined together to make an Abyssal ocean, anyone who wants to clear this level has to be able to survive the crushing abyssal depths, which reaches down several miles at the deepest point.**

 **Along with the ice cold waters and lethal sea creatures. (Gm note: sound based attacks do double when used underwater.)**

 **Guardian** **– Sadna Taleelayuk**

 **Race - Siren**

 **Class – Bard\Sea Witch**

 **Weapon - Trident**

* * *

 **5th floor - Based on the Greek myth of the labyrinth. An endlessly shifting maze in a land of shadows. It is always night here, though the moon phases can be changed to suit the whims of its guardian. The floor is teeming with ninjas, wraiths, and other creatures designed with stealth based attacks.**

 **Guardian** **\- Nyx**

 **Race - Halfling**

 **Title - Grand Master Assassin**

 **Weapon – Whatever is needed to get the job done.**

* * *

 **6th floor the workshop – huge Furness smelting pits and laboratory. Tech laboratory where the more creative members of the guild work. And build gadgets and weapons for the rest of the guild, for there missions.**

 **Guardian** **\- Q**

 **Race – Goblin**

 **Class – Blacksmith\Enchanter**

 **Weapon – Ghost Armour ( think of a 30ft tall mecha suit.)**

* * *

 **7th-floor Elysian endless fields trackless forests.**

 **Guardian** **\- Persephone**

 **Race – Phoenix**

 **Class – Druid**

 **Weapon – Two Scythes**

* * *

 **8th floor Guild member personal rooms. Promenade and shopping areas.**

 **Guardian** **\- Cerberus (Giant 3 headed dog.)**

 **Race – Hellhound**

 **Class – Necromancer (Guardian class)**

 **Weapon – Claws\magic**

 **8th floor is also where the hub for the gate system is located. This is the system that has provided the guild with a massive edge over all other guilds over the years. The gate system bypasses the normal portals on the nine worlds. And is able to send or retrieve groups of up to 6 people at a time to any non magically protected area ie not inside any guild bases or dungeons. The gatekeeper is the only one who can control the system. And he answers only to the guild leader**

 **Guardian – Janus**

 **Race – Human**

 **Class – Gatekeeper ( OP Teleporter)**

 **Weapon - Staff**

* * *

 **9th-floor throne room and treasure vault Tiamat is the guardian.**

 **Guardian - Tiamat ( Mother Of Dragons)**

 **Race – Dragon God**

 **Class – Elementalist (each of her seven heads is able to use a different type of elemental magic or attack)**

 **Weapon – Magic**

* * *

 **10th floor the Observatory, this is the smallest floor build along the lines of a massive observatory. And unlike most floors is built vertically rather than horizontally. The floor is several hundred feet tall, and the whole floor is dedicated to spying and observation. Argus is of the beholder race, which is gifted with ten eyes each one able to cast a different spell with only a cooldown as a limit on there spell casting. There largest central eye being the most dangerous since it is able to cast antimagic, thus able to destroy any magic in its line of sight. Argus sacrificed this eye for greater power in the seer arts. This also brought the unintended side effect of making him an oracle thus able to see the future. This is something he keeps to himself knowing the dangers of telling people their futures. This ability makes him the most dangerous of all the guardians.**

 **Guardian - Argus**

 **Race – Beholder**

 **Class – Seer ( Oracle hidden talent.)**

 **Weapon – Magic**

* * *

 **Name: Tyr - Lord of Shadows**

 **Position: Guild master of The League of Shadows**

 **Location: 9th floor of the Nexus guild base (unique)**

 **Alignment +100 (Lawful Neutral)**

 **Level 100 Player**

 **Race: Human Greater Dread hybrid -** **Dread were at one time great peaceful beings that existed outside of creation. They sort greater knowledge and lore through observation of each cycle of creation. One cycle several became trapped in time when the cycle** **Ragnarok began c** **reation again. driven mad by being exposed to time they became unstoppable agents of destruction, wanting nothing more than to return to the timeless, void outside of creation.**

 **The first gods all had to band together to face this first threat to creation. This was the first great god's war begun. Too powerful to be destroyed even by the combined might of all the gods, they were locked away in a dreamless sleep at the far edge of the universe.**

 **Most mortals who make deals with the Dread quickly find a bad deal, in exchange for a place for the Dread to reside inside the mortal's soul, which allows them to escape their bondage for a time and perhaps bring about the destruction of all. most mortals are quickly consumed and destroyed by the power they seek to control. Use of the power of the dread in normal space-time is more corrosive to the mortal soul than any other known force in the universe. But this power bestows the power of creation on the user. This power can form any object or entity that the user is aware of. each use though consumes first the soul then begins consuming the body. once the mortal shell finally is consumed, the Dread is once again banished back to its prison. The larger more powerful the creation the faster the user is consumed. There are a rare few who are able to master this incredible power before being consumed by it. Reaching the level of Dread King means that a true symbiosis between both parties has** **been achieved. At this level, the mortal** **sacrifice** **their mortal form and uses the Dreads own power to maintain there form becoming a hybrid, able to fully utilize the Dreads incredible powers of creation without penalty. (developers note- dread king powers will draw only from mana pool instead of hit points and stamina)**

 **Guild Weapon: Matched set of Greater Dragon Claw Gloves.**


	4. Chapter 3

_"The Reed submits to the wind,_  
 _and prospers until one day it is many._

Chapter 3

50 years before Aniz Ooal Gown appears.

00.00.01...00.00.30...00.01.00

The world shifted, even years later he couldn't think of a better way of explaining it better than that. One minute there were several worlds hanging overhead and he was thinking about what he'd have to do before he went to bed to be ready for work in the morning. Less than an eye blink later the worlds were all gone and there was only one visible world right in front of him, (and would later realise that Nexus was orbiting over a moon now.) One that he'd never seen before. Frowning slightly thinking there must have been a problem with the server shut down, he turned away from the balcony and moved back to his throne. Once he was seated he tried to activate the call GM function... there was a continues beeping in his head, but no one picked up. Getting a little worried now he tried to call several other players that he knew had planned on staying in the game till the servers shut down. Again no response. Feeling a little more concern now he tried the call GM function again. Again nothing. Trying to think of something else he could try, to find out what was going on.  
The doors at the far end of the hall opened and a young woman with her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail that came down the base of her back. In a black pants suit outfit ran down the length of the hall sliding to a stop at the bottom of the steps. Tyr did a double take on seeing this, he hadn't called any of the NPC'S what was she doing here?  
He had to think for a moment to try and remember her name. A little out of breath after running the length of the hall the young woman bowed to Tyr. And started talking. Tyr had to stop himself from gapping as the young woman began to give him a rapid-fire report.

"Sir! report from Argus, in the observatory, we have an emergency situation on our, hands. The nine realms seem to have disappeared. We're not sure if Nexus has moved or the worlds have? Only one unknown world is anywhere near to our position at approximately 350,000km and we now seem to be orbiting above a moon at a distance of 500km. What are your orders, sir?"

Silence was his only response as he tried to get his head around what had just happened. An NPC running about and talking without orders?  
what the hell was going on? Whenever he talked about this moment years later he always said he handled this moment with calm grace and a cool head. What really happened was he gave a small squeak and tried to crawl through his throne, as a beautiful voice woman's echoed through the great hall from above his head. Looking up he saw three enormous car size heads arched above his throne looking down at him, with what could only be called a concerned look. While another one was looking at the young lady, the one looking at the young lady replied.

"Calm down Gracie, remember who you are talking to, what do you mean the nine worlds are gone? How is that possible?"

"Unknown mam. Argus is trying to figure that out but he thought Sir might know what was happening, he did say earlier that the world would be ending soon, and he thought maybe you, moved us all somehow to somewhere safe, sir."

She replied. Gracie looked up at Tyr with a worried look on her face, waiting for a response. Tiamt's fourth head curled about so it to could look down at Tyr too. They both looked at him waiting for a reply.

"Ummmmm"

Not the best line looking back, but his mind seemed to have jammed in neutral. As he tried to get his head around the fact that two NPC'S seemed to be acting on there own. Plus having four giant dragon heads looking down at him wasn't helping. It was a bit disconcerting, to say the least. Tyr's brain finally seemed to move out of being stuck in neutral, as he thought to himself maybe this was some sort of super advanced A.I; Maybe Yggdrasil II that he'd been hearing rumours about. Once that thought entered his mind he felt allot better. Okay, this he could deal with. Trying to look like an all-powerful being on his throne and ignore the sweat that felt like it was pouring down his back(wait sweat?) He looked down at the, suddenly talkative NPC.

"Gracie, no I don't know what's happened to Nexus, this was beyond even my power, I want you to return to Argus and have him begin mapping the star positions and trying to see if we're still in our own universe, or if we've been moved even further. Since we no longer seem to be in the void but in space, contact Cerberus, and have him send out several of his elder liches and wraiths to survey the moon and the surrounding space up to 100km. Make sure they are equipped with rings of invisibility and the best anti-detection gear we have They are not to engage anyone or anything they come across, this is a pure scouting mission. They are to make a note anything of interest they come across then report back."

Gracie did a quick bow and ran back out of the hall with a determined look on her face. Letting out a long breath as she left the hall. One down Tyr thought. Thinking fast he looked up to Tiamat, with as calm a voice as he could manage while talking to a seven-story-tall dragon, he said.

" Tiamat can you transform into your human form I have a few things I need you to do."

All four heads smiled. In the same melodic voices, one of the heads replied.

"Of course my lord, I live to serve."

The four heads pulled back behind the throne. And then a golden light filled the hall, chasing all the shadows back momentarily. Tyr took another deep breath and looked behind the throne. Walking up the steps to him was a statuesque woman wearing a long red dress that shimmered through several different shades of red in the torchlight. She looked to be in her late 40's though there were only a few fine lines around her eyes, steel grey hair was pulled back in a complex knot which hung over her shoulder while she had a warm smile as she looked up at him. When she reached two steps below the throne she knelt keeping her head down.

"What is your wish my lord?"

Tyr had to think for a moment about that, if this some sort of extra level to Yggdrasil, then he could deal with this. Another small thought was trying to get his attention, that this was allot more than some new level of the game. He resolutely ignored that voice, as hard as he could. Pulling up his best game voice, even he was shocked as his voice boomed out over the hall,

" Yes, whatever has happened to us is unprecedented, raise all the defences of Nexus to there highest levels, break out the heavy weaponry from the armoury for everyone. Make it clear to everyone that if anyone is found trying to enter Nexus then they are to make every effort to capture not kill we need information more than a kill at the moment. Plus I wish you to gather all of the guardians along with Janus, for a meeting in 2 hours in the conference room in the observatory. And tell Argus and Cerberus I'll expect a brief report from them both on everything they have managed to find out so far."

"Of course my lord will there be anything else?"

Tyr gave it a moments thought.

" Yes I'll going to the Dojo on the 5th floor to do some training, so there is no need to tell Nyx. I'll speak to him myself."

With a wave of his hand, he dismissed her. Tiamat rose smoothly to her feet and glided out of the hall. Slumping back into his throne Tyr couldn't believe that worked. That was the point that he realised he couldn't ignore the fact that he was sweating and breathing hard? Something very odd was going on here. Taking slow deep breaths. He realised he could really feel the throne he was sitting on. Adapt and overcome. He thought to himself. Okay whatever this is he needed to figure out the basics, quickly before the meeting.  
Okay need to get to the 5th floor, the best way is to use my guild ring. Trying for a few minutes to bring up the options menu for his magic. He looked down at his right hand, which had a simple silver band on his index finger. Giving some thought to trying to figure out how to use it, the menu option is out, the only logical thing was thinking about it. He focused on the dojo inside Nyx's Shiro (Shiro – Japanese castle.) With no sense of movement, the treasury vanished.  
Stumbling a little from the sudden venue change, Tyr looked around at the Labyrinth with an open mouth; He'd helped designed several floors of Nexus but if he didn't know any better, he'd swear he was outside on a warm summers night.  
A new moon hung overhead the only large source of light on this level. This level had been designed to be a land of endless shadows with Nyx's castle standing at the centre of an ever shifting maze meant to confuse all intruders with traps and stealth based attacks from the army of Shinobi that guarded the floor. Turning from gapping at the scenery he looked at the steep steps in front of him. 666 steps sounded like a good joke when they had been designing this place, looking up all of these steps, in reality, it was a lot less amusing. Thinking to see what he could do Tyr started running up the steps. The feeling of wind as it rushed past his face was incredible. It barely felt like he was making any effort as he moved. The steps zipped by in a blur, while at the same time he could still make out all the details of each of the steps perfectly as he flew by them. With a cry of joy he launched himself into the up into the air in a massive leap, that cleared almost half of the steps in one go. Landing without a sound. Without pause, he launched himself up again this time as hard as he could back up into the air trying to see if he could reach the top of the stairs in one shot. The stairs shot by underneath his feet as he felt the

wind whipping past his ears. The top of the stairs arched by underneath him as he shot well over, realising he had overshot by a wide margin he cleared the castle wall as well. Before arching back toward the ground a moment of fear gripped him as he thought about how high he was and what would happen as the ground rushed up to greet him. Bracing harder than he meant to the paving stones lining the courtyard caved in has he's feet went straight through them as he touched down. Thankful that the courtyard seemed to be empty and that no one had seen him having to pull his legs back out from half a foot underground and through the paving slabs.

Brushing the dirt from his clothing he looked about the courtyard. There were no torches here, the high walls cutting off the small amount of light that the moon provided. But he noticed that his dark vision was working perfectly and since he had a superior version of it, everything looked like it was bathed in soft twilight. The only true source of light in the courtyard were several cherry blossom trees dotted around with a small bench in front of each of them. Each of the trees was giving off a soft ethereal glow and a soft cherry fragrance filled the courtyard, walking slowly towards the trees. He had always loved this spot. Never having seen a real cherry tree in the real world but told about them by his mother from when her grandparents had taken her one of the last public viewings when she was a small child. He had insisted that this spot be added here even though it served no purpose, to the defences of the level. In time it had become a favourite hanging out spot for most of the guild. Meeting here to talk or just relax after a mission. The smell of cherry's filling the air more than anything else convinced him that whatever was going on, this was real. What had always been a beautiful spot in the game was now truly breathtaking. Walking over to one of the trees he stood under it looking up into its branches for a moment enjoying the tranquil atmosphere of the place. A slight breeze dislodged a single cherry blossom, it seemed to float down right in front of him. Reaching out he softly plucked it out of the air feeling the silky smooth texture of the blossom between his fingers, he brought it up to his nose breathing in its scent. Sadness filled him as he realised he had never seen anything so beautiful in his old world, as in this moment. Recalling part of an old poem. In this moment he knew it to be true.  
"The perfect Blossom is a rare thing. You could spend your life looking for one, and it would not be a wasted life"  
\- Katsumoto

Bowing his head for a moment in reverence under the soft glow of the trees. He remembered all the old times he had spent here with his old guildmates. The sadness at seeming to be alone was chased away as the sun chases the shadows away, in the light of such beauty. Smiling slightly as he tucking the small blossom away.  
Time to see what else he was capable of? Taking a seat on one of the wooden benches, he thought for a moment on how to get to all of the items stored in his inventory? Thinking about it for a minute a small swirling portal appeared in front of him. Taking a deep breath he reached into the swirling darkness, it was an odd feeling, to say the least, it felt like things kept slipping past his hand as he thoughts kept changing from what he wanted.  
Making up his mind, it was suddenly there in his hand. Pulling his hand back from the portal a small black statue of two ravens in flight rested in his hand. Admiring the craftsmanship of the most talented blacksmith in the guild, Fendris Gentlehart. She'd had a great talent for crafting. Maybe one of the best in the whole game, she had been an artist in the real world and was responsible for creating most of the armour and weapons for the NPC's. But her true talent was in creating devices that were used for infiltration and spying. She'd been a true savant at getting around traps and defensive systems of any enemy bases they were trying to get into. Since she'd hated fighting she had skewed most of her stats towards thief and non-combat classes.  
Smiling he casually threw the small statue at the ground. The small statue began to glow and grow even before it hit the ground, as soon has it came into contact with the ground there was a small puff of black smoke and there stood two large black ravens.  
They both looked around the courtyard for a moment, before focusing back on Tyr.

"Huginn and Muninn, reporting for duty sir."

They both chanted in unison while bobbing there heads. No longer surprised by the NPC's seeming life now, he smiled down at them both. He could also now feel a connection with both of the summons that was incredible. He could feel there health and thoughts at the back of his mind with a string stretching out to both of the Ravens in front of him. Looking down at them both he said.

"Hey, guys how you doing?"

Both ravens looked at each other, this was new they thought. The boss never spoke to them, he just gave them orders, and left them to it?

"Were good, boss. What's going on?"

Huginn replied. Tyr gave them a quick rundown on what had happened in the last hour, and that he wanted to check that his powers were still working the way he expected in this new environment.

"I've got a job for you both I want you to go around all of Nexus, staying out of sight of everyone and observe what is happening. See how is everyone coping with our sudden change and what they're saying. I'll call you in a few hours after my meeting with all the Guardians."

Both ravens bobbed their heads.

"Of course boss happy to."

They both replied. With a flap of there wings, they shot into the night sky. After a moment he could no longer see them. They were both comparatively weak at only level 70 but they were the best of his summons at sneaking about and Fendirs had boosted there wisdom and intelligence to max along with several other abilities that were made them great at staying out of sight and getting about without being seen.  
Looking at the night sky in the direction they had just departed in. Tyr closed his eyes and focused on one of the strings at the back of his mind. And just like that, he was looking out of one of the raven's eyes. Instinctively he could tell it was Muninn. The feeling of the wind under his wings as he flapped across the Labyrinth was incredible. Revelling for a few moments in the feel of the wind moving over his wings and the strength of each wing beat, before gently pulling back from the Raven's mind, This was going to be useful Tyr thought to himself. Nodding to himself he stood up and moved across the courtyard toward the Dojo area.

A large set of beautifully varnished wood doors engraved with beautiful designs of nature greeted him as he walked across the courtyard. Taking a moment to admire the artistry of the carving relief. Before reaching out and pushing one of the doors open. When a thunderous crash from something heavy smashing into the door, on the other side slammed it shut in his face. Stumbling back a few steps in surprise and giving serious thought about trying to go in there, a low voice could be heard on the other side as it berated someone for not keeping there defences up. Tyr tried again pushing the door gently, prepared for something else to slam the door again. As he pushed open the door he looked down and saw there was an unmoving body on the floor. Pushing what he hoped was an unconscious young man out of the way he slipped into the room. The low berating voice became allot clearer as he could make out Nyx berating voice over the heads of the 50 Kneeling Shinobi

"... how many times must I tell you never to underestimate your enemy."

The dojo was brightly lit up, showing off a beautiful but functional looking space. (think Neo's training program from the matrix.)  
Across the large dojo on a raised training area, a small ancient looking halfling leaned on a small twisted cane. Dressed in a Gi he looked down frowning at the several different races seated in the class. As it looked like he was about to start another tirade he looked up and saw Tyr standing at the back of the class. A look of shock quickly passed over his face.

"Class stand!"

He barked.

"Our Lord has decided to visit us in our practice."

The class stood quickly in unison, turned and bowed to Tyr. Remembering who he was to these people he nodded to them. And walked down to the still bowing Nyx. He had to smile Nyx was one of his favourite personal creations, and definitely one of the most dangerous people in Nexus. It was an incredible thing to see all of that hard work, walking and talking just like he'd always dreamed. Whatever was going on with the NPC's he needed to enjoy it while it lasted.

" Rise, my old friend. I need to speak with you alone."

Nyx stood up straight and looked up at his lord and smiled. Tapping his cane on the wooden floor twice he called.

"Class dismissed!"

Without a word and barely a whisper of cloth the whole class bowed again and silently filed out of the hall. Nyx turned from the departing class looking up to his lord.

"How may I be of service my lord?"

Tyr looked down at the grand master and smiled, before donning a more serious face.

"So there seems to have been an unexplainable teleportation event. All of Nexus seems to have been moved away from the nine realms to some completely unknown location. There is a meeting in the Observatory in an hour where all the Guardians are going to meet to discuss our situation in more depth. I currently have Argus and Cerberus looking into our situation outside, the base. I've set the base on high alert and ordered Tiamat to break out the heavy weaponry for everyone so get your second to get on distributing them to everyone on this floor ASAP."

Nyx looked at his lord with a look of shock on his face for a moment. Before his face turned to one of deep thought.

"I understand. Which of our lords are here with us, I may ask my lord?"

"I was the only Lord on the base when this event happened. But that doesn't mean that none of the others aren't here somewhere else here too. But our first priority is to secure our location then try to get as much information on our new environment as possible before we move forward."

Nyx nodded in agreement with his lord.  
I hope the others are out there somewhere Tyr thought to himself. Nyx made an odd gesture with his right hand, causing a gong to sound somewhere else in the castle. A minute later and a beautiful young Japanese woman wearing a beautiful white coloured kimono with long black hair all the way down her back entered from the back of the dojo and knelt in front of them, while Nyx quickly explained the situation to her. Tyr tried not to stare at her otherworldly beauty. Trying to remember what she was when he had made her several years back, it clicked. Any thoughts were quickly dashed as he remembered exactly what was hiding under that beautiful facade. Nyx quickly finished explaining what had happened, the young woman still silent gracefully bowed to them both before quickly exiting the building. Curious Tyr asked;

"She is of Jorōgumo race of the Yokai, is she not?"

"Yes, my lord."

Nyx replied. "She is highly efficient as you made her to be."

Swallowing hard at the beautiful monster that had just walked by. He turned his mind back to the main reason why he had wanted to come here.

"While we're waiting I was thinking it's been awhile since I last trained here. I was hoping you would supervise."

"Of course my lord I would be honoured."

Nyx replied.

Removing his shoes They both walked across the mats of the training area. Tyr stopping in the middle. While the gentle tapping of Nyx's cane stopped once he reached the edge of the mats and waited to see what his lord wanted to do.  
Tyr felt the thin mats on his bare feet and was amazed again at whatever was going on. The more time, that passed the more normal this seemed to feel. Which worried him, by the fact that he wasn't worrying about it. Pushing aside these circular. He needed to see what he could do and this was definitely the best place to try it. He didn't really have much magic, being only able to cast up to 8th tier spells. But what he was lacking in pure magical power, was more than made up for by his creation powers. Time to see how they work here since they were his most powerful ability? Tyr closed his eyes and slowed his breathing trying to clear his mind. In the game, there was a list of items and there cost in the menu system when he wanted to create something since that seemed to be gone. Thought and focus seemed to be the way to go. Like he'd done with the ring. He thought about a simple sword in his hand pictured it felt it believed it knew it to be real. And then the sword was in his hand. He was so surprised he almost dropped it, the sword felt real it had weight. Making a few experimental swings with it. Tyr then focused on changing the sword into several different weapons, in quick secession. Next step he thought. Turning the weapon back into a sword he focused on making it more powerful. The sword burst into flames. Then he made it covered in ice. Before finally trying to make a lighting fire sword. Smiling as the sword burst into flames while being wreathed in lighting at the same time. This was easier than he thought it would be almost like remembering something he had forgotten. Tyr could feel a small tugging from the sword in his hand. Concentrating he could feel a tiny amount of energy flowing from himself into the sword. Focusing on pushing more power into the sword, the flames went from a bright yellow to pure white, while the lighting went from a gentle crackling up and down the flames to turning jet black over the flame with a massive crash of thunder causing the air to start howling around the dojo. Nyx watching from the side stood open mouthed at the display of roar power that his lord was showing him. Having to turn away from the blinding light he noted that the sword's power had jumped by several orders of magnitude, maybe up to a divine class of weapon. Realising what had started as a tiny tugging between himself and the sword had become allot more noticeable, this must be what draining his mana felt like. Nodding to himself at figuring this out he let the image go in his mind and wanting the sword gone the blade vanished. And so did the feeling of being drained. The dojo felt much smaller after the sudden burst of released power has the air stilled. Next was trying several other things. Stretching out his hand again he brought forth a rose, a metal cube, a book a pen, a small flying ship flashed by almost as quickly as they formed in his hand. Next, he brought a small flying dragon into being and made it zip around the Dojo for a minute chasing after the small ship. Laughing as they zoomed around the beams before making the small dragon land on his shoulder and breath out a small spurt of flame before he let the image go. He turned to Nyx.

"Can you activate one of the training sims set it to a moderate level. I'd like to warm up."

Nyx nodded and tapped his cane twice on the floor.  
Breathing out again slowly, he saw the three blank-faced simulacra armed with various weapons step onto the mat. Surrounding him in a loose circle. Taking what felt like a natural stance he relaxed, spreading his feet out balancing his weight evenly and waited. The three simulacrums moved all together, in a blindingly fast sprint to reach him with there weapons raised to strike. In a part of his mind, he almost ideally noted they almost seemed to move in slow motion. He knew if he was still human then he doubted he'd be able to see them moving at all. Another part of his mind screamed that he was going to get himself killed. But it was small and was easily pushed aside, the first of the drones was a step ahead of the two as it raised its staff in a powerful downward swing, several possible responses ran through his mind while he stood there looking at the staff. Selecting one he took a long sliding step forward timing it just right to catch the staff at the apex of its swing he leaned into the drone grabbing and twisting its arm as he flipped it over his shoulder into the next closest attacker and heaved as hard as he could. He gaped as they crashed into each other and carried on flying off the mat area and through one of the far walls. Leaving a gaping hole in the wall 50 feet away. The third drone almost had him while he stood there gaping. Some instinct brought him back to the fight. When he realised he was inches from being run through the back with a sword he reacting on that same instinct and disappeared into his own shadow reappearing a moment later directly behind his attacker, acting without thought he formed his hand into a point and struck, the clawed gauntlet he was wearing entered the drones back and through it chest with barely any resistance.  
The simulacrum went dead instantly on his arm. Realising what he'd done and that he had his hand shoved through someone's chest. The magic sustaining the drone quickly dissipated, the body on his arm turned to several small globes of light that gently floated to the floor before disappearing. Breathing hard not from exertion but from the shock of how easy it was. Tyr looked over at Nyx and said.

"Good, Harder."

Nyx tapped his cane twice more and this time 7 much larger simulacrums stepped onto the mat. Smiling he charged them as soon as they stepped onto the mat.

Ten minutes and 27 simulacrums, of varies shapes and sizes, were scattered about the room, with two in the rafters in various states of damage. Looking about as he relaxed from his combat stance he now knew he could defend himself from whatever this new world had to offer.

* * *

so to answer a few points from reviews:

Allhailthesith yeah your right two groups of level 100 NPCs banging into each other would probably blow up the world. but that is not where I plan on taking this story. so stay tuned

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zWarLock Thanks, ZWarlock hope you like this chapter too. part of the reason I've taken up writing again is to try and improve my grammar and English.

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gangui Thanks Gangui glad you like the story so far, might do another version with Hugues De Payens in the future. will see how he plays out in this story first.


	5. Chapter 4

" _It does not do to leave a dragon out of your calculations, especially if you live near him."_

 _ **Chapter 4**_

Nyx looked around the gym at the damage that his master had caused. And was truly honoured to have been able to see his power. People rarely got to see him fight (well not more than, once at least.) Since he normally was in charge of strategy and planning missions for the others in the guild. But looking around at the damage he had caused in the last few minutes he could see it would be a terrible mistake to underestimate his physical prowess he was far from just a thinker.

Tyr took a last look around the room, and the damage he had caused. It had been like he was remembering something he had just forgotten while he was fighting. The more he did it the simpler it became. The moves and reflexes were all there along with his skills and fighting ability's, just like he had in the game. But this seemed to be real, whatever it was. And Tyr knew there was a world of difference between a game and the real world no matter how realistic it seemed. He would have to train hard in the coming days... But at least he now knew that he could defend himself from whatever came next. Nodding to himself he, turned and bowed to Nyx.

"Thank you, Grandmaster, that was most refreshing. I will see you soon at the meeting."

Nyx bowed back.

"It was my pleasure, my lord. I will see you again soon."

Nodding. With increasing confidence, Tyr used his guild ring to teleport himself away.

Nyx took one last look around the room before summoning a maid to clean up the mess. Yes a serious mistake to underestimate his Lord's power, he thought to himself as he hobbled out of the room to get ready for the meeting. This would be quite something. This would be the first full gathering of all the floor guardians ever. It would be interesting to meet them all for the first time.

In spite of the dire situation Nexus now found it's self in he was confident that the first lord was up to the task of keeping them all safe.

* * *

Appearing at the entrance to the 10th floor Tyr looked up at the huge crystal dome that arched overhead covering the whole circular level. The crystal gave a perfectly clear view of the heavens. The view was breathtaking as the dome magnified the starlight making even stars normally to faint to see with the naked eye, clearly visible. The whole dome was a breathtaking array of colours as stars and galaxies could be seen across most of the heavens with there eternal light. Walking into what was the smallest level of Nexus he looked down from the balcony seeing a large staircase that hugged the wall of the tower that went down a dozen stories, with large landings evenly space about where people of all different sizes and race worked at a feverish pace. The landings were spaced out evenly around the sides of the tower with a huge telescope reaching from the ground floor up to just below the dome. The telescope was being slowly moved to a new position. Over towards the far side of the dome, the new world they seemed to have been moved to was clearly visible. As the telescope slowly shifted towards it.

"Hello my lord."

A deep bass voice that made his bones rumble, called out from above his head, as slowly a giant elder beholder slowly drifted down into view. Pretending to observe the telescope for another moment as he gathered himself to talk to the giant floating head. At almost 15 feet across with a deep red coloured skin, with nine different eye stalks spaced around the top of its head waving about in a hypnotic fashion while it's tenth main large eye in the centre of it's face was a blind milky white.

"Hello, Hundred Eyes (Argus) thank you for hosting this meeting. The others should be arriving shortly. Can you lead the way to the conference room."

"Of course my lord follow me."

The giant head like figure slowly rotated on its axis and began to drift back out into the open area. Taking a deep breath he looked at one of his rings and activated it. Slowly rising into the air behind the beholder. Careful not to look down at the several story drop below his feet and thinking this was a lot more fun when he did this with wings. The beholder floated up to the top level next to the top of the telescope. A large light blue table large enough to seat eleven dominated the area. The whole area rested on a clear floating platform that slowly floated about the top of the dome, slowly changing the view of the stars. Gently touching down on the platform cause a gentle ripple of colours to spread out from his each of his footsteps as he walked across the platform to the seating area.

Several guardians were already there milling about the seating area talking quietly amongst themselves, Argus floated slowly in front of him as he walked towards them. Noticing his approach they all turned and bowed. As he walked around the table toward his seat.

"First Lord."

They all intoned together. Nodding he carried on walking towards the head of the table. Running his hand along the crystal smooth surface of the table he saw that even the interfaces in front of each chair seemed to have become real as he could see several screens of data flowing on them as he walked past each seat. Taking his seat at the head of the table, all the guardians were still standing about not sure what to do. Waving at the seats he motioned for them to find a sit. Looking a little nervous they all moved to a seat.

He noticed with a wry amusement that each of the guardians had taken the seat that matched where creator normally sat. Looking about the table he noted who had already arrived. Tyr looked up at Argus and asked.

"How long do we have left until the meeting is due to start?"

Argus rotated so his large central eye was pointed towards him.

"The last of the guardians should be here in the next few minutes."

Nodding he looked down at the control panel set into the desk in front of him, the system asked for his magical signature. He reached out and touched the screen. Several holographic displays rose up around his seat, showing several of the base's systems. Cool holographic display just like there were supposed to be, in the game. More confirmation that whatever was going on, everything was the way they had built it in the game. He couldn't stop a small smile from his face at this thought. Taking note of all of the information at his fingertips now Tyr started scrolling through a few screens of information. After a few minutes of this, he could see that he'd have to spend several hours on this to go through everything but could see that he could activate any of the bases traps or defensive systems from here. Also could see all the day to day costs of running the base and the locations of all the NPC's and POP's.

Everyone else at the table sat in an uncomfortable silence waiting for the first lord to speak. Tyr looked through the displays when he realised that no one had spoken for in the last few minutes. With a wave of his hand, he cleared away the displays for later.

Looking around the table at the four guardians who were already here;

 **Usal** first floor guardian sat at the far end of the table pretty much taking up the whole end of the table by himself.

As a Crystal Golem, pushing 8ft height he was made of a milky crystal, which made him highly resistant to physical damage. He was definitely the strongest of the guardians.

Next seat down sat **Q** a small green goblin in a white lab coat with large tufts of white hair growing out of his ears, the only one seated at the table who was more interested in his tablet in front of him, than what was happening about him. If he remembered correctly he was highly focused on his work always looking to make improvements, and not a care when his experiments, inevitably blew up in his face.

Sitting next to him **Sadna Taleelayuk** an incredibly beautiful woman sat with sea-green hair, that constantly seemed as if it was moving underwater in a slow hypnotic fashion. Smiling seductively when she noticed him looking at her. Trying not to stare at her clothing or lack thereof as she arched her back a little giving him a clear view down the front of her dress. Guardian of the 3 and 4th Abyssal floor she was a powerful siren and seductress.

And above the table too large for a seat floated **Argus** guardian of the 10th floor in charge of information gathering for all the guild. A powerful Seer who gave up his magic destroying his main eye in a special ritual in return for increasing his seer based ability's.

A ripple at the far end of the platform and the rest of the guardians appeared, **Cerberus** a large three-headed hell-hound. His claws clicked quietly as he came and lay next to his chair while the rest took their seats. **Persephone** a stunning phoenix in her human form wearing white druidic robes and twin scythes, hooked to her belt. And ahead of fire instead of hair, waving in a gentle breeze, guardian of Elysian the 7th floor. **Tiamat** gilded across the room in her beautiful red gown with almost unconscious elegance and came and took the seat to his left while **Nyx** somehow managed to just appear in the seat to his right. **Janus** guardian of the gate system quietly took his seat, taking the time to have a good look at all the others seated around the table. And **Savitar** god of speed, his form had always creeped him out, when **DropBomb** had drawn up the plans for him. But he was incredibly powerful. And one of the few NPC's that had been made to be evil (lawful evil) rather than with a neutral aliment like most of the NPC's. His whole body was made up of jet black crows flying in an impossible dance to give him a humanoid form with glowing silver eyes. Savitar was the last to take his seat at the table with a gentle wind ruffling everyone's clothing as he sat down.

All of the guardians were looking about in silence at the other guardians taking there first good look at there fellow guardians for the first time.

Raising from his seat and placing his hands on the table turning slowly to take in everyone with his gaze.

Making sure to catch everyone's eye of them with a level look. He had been wondering how to play this first meeting since it, would set the tone for all future interactions with them. He had a rough plan in mind for what needed to get done. And was looking forward to seeing what this new world had to offer. The most important thing at the moment, he thought to himself was to show that he was in charge and that he knew what he was doing.

He'd had a hand in helping create most of the Guardians and allot of the other NPCs dotted about, some he knew better than others though. One of the first things on his list was to go through all of there back story's and spend some time with all of them to get a better feel for them as they are now that they had all become flesh and blood beings, he was sure that they would all have there own quirks now. After talking with Nyx and Tiamat he had realised that they all seemed to be acting the way there back story's and lore dictated. He could see some problems with this that he might have to deal with later because their backgrounds had always been a bit of extra fun extra in the game and not something that most of them took to seriously no matter how much they wrote into there charters lore. Who knows what the others might have put in there for fun. Though he was glad that they all saw him as a leader\ruler and not some sort of god-like he knew Momongas lot had programmed all there NPCs to see them as. He couldn't imagine the headache that would cause if they saw him like that all the time. That was tomorrows problem though. Now to see if what he had deduced about everyone so far was true or not.

"Thank you all for coming, this is probably the first time most of you have met face to face, we will get to that. But first to summarise why you're all here. A few hours ago some unknown force seems to have moved Nexus to an unknown location. Possibly to a new universe. That is still unclear at the moment. There were looks of shock and dismay at this news as they all looked about the table at each other.

If you look up you can see, that the nine worlds seem to have disappeared and there is only one world anywhere near us at the moment."

Everyone's gaze followed his pointed finger up to the dome and the now clearly visible planet. **Sadna** motioned. Tyr Nodded for her to speak.

"My lord this is distressing. We all know that you said Yggdrasil was coming to an end were you the one to do this?"

Tyr shook his head. Though he made a mental note that she remembered something he had said to her before coming here.

"No whatever this is, is beyond me, I'm in the dark about this as much of any of you I'm afraid. Also, I seem to be the only other Lord here at the moment. They might be on the planet somewhere. Or they might not... this will be one of our top priority's once we make landfall. "

This reply about the missing Lords brought more worried looks than the fact that they had all been possibly moved to another universe. Knocking on the table with his knuckles, everyone's attention focused back on him.

"I know this is worrying to all of us. But I give you my word that if our comrades are here somewhere on this new world we will move heaven and earth to get bring them home."

Slamming his fist down on the table. Nods and smiles all around the table were his replies to his impassioned declaration.

"I will have tasks for all of you in the coming days, and I know I can count on all of you to give 110%.

Argus and Cerberus have spent the last few hours scouting and trying to get some basic answers for us. Cerberus what have your liches found?"

Cerberus bowed his heads in acknowledgement. Then his voice echoed in all of there minds (With a posh British accent.)

"Thank you, my lord, as you asked I sent out my liches out in a 100km circumference around the base. Until now they report no contacts with anything of note. I also sent several down to the moon's surface that we now seem to be orbiting, while they've not had time to do an exhaustive survey yet, it seems to be totally dead no life or unlife anywhere. We should have the whole surface of the moon surveyed in a within a few days."

Tyr nodded while leaning back in his chair and steepled his fingers as he thought for a moment. Hardly surprising news about the moon. Just one look out the window and he could see it was dead. Several possible ideas for the moon spun through his mind, top of the list securing a fall back position in case of an emergency.

Nodding. He looked at Cerberus.

"Very good Cerberus, keep up the survey of the surface if any of your teams find anything inform me immediately, also get a team to take a waygate down to the surface of the moon and enough of a team to defend it heaverly if necessary. Once that's completed inform me and we can go from there. Also, we are in possible enemy space I'd like you to work with Tiamat and come up with a new defensive line for the base up to 200km in every direction. You have until the end of the day to come up with and implement this new defensive line. I'll expect a full report to look over once it's up and running. In the meantime send out as many liches and wraiths as can be spared keep them on patrol around the base. Does anyone have any thoughts or ideas to add?"

All the guardians silently looked about the table, before shaking their heads.

"Very well."

Looking up at Argus he asked

"What have you been able to find out?"

Argus cleared his throat before answering.

"Thank you, my lord. As you asked we have been working with Janus to look upon this new world that we have arrived at. The first thing we found was that the gate system has stopped working."

With that comment, Tyr felt the bottom of his stomach fall out at this news. That was one of the bases most powerful ability's. Without that, they could be in serious trouble. The rest of the guardians wore worried looks as they tried to talk over each other. Janus stood up and looking down the table. Tyr rapped on the table bringing everyone's attention back to Janus.

"First lord I believe the gate system being out of service to only be a temporary thing. As we speak the great Heart Stone reaches out to this new world I believe within a few days a week at most we should have our full transport capability's back to full power."

Breathing an internal sigh of relief at that. Making sure to keep his voice steady he replied.

"Thank you, Janus, that is good to hear, anything you need to help speed up the process with the heart stone contact me or Tiamat and we'll see to it."

Janus nodded and sat back down.

"Argus have you managed to find out anything about the world that we currently find ourselves orbiting?"

" At this distance, I can't get any great detail about this new world we find ourselves orbiting. But I have managed to find out a few basics about our new position. This world seems to have several continents of various sizes though I point out there are only four oceans. I have noted several races that were all familiar with, spread about. Human, dragon, goblins, and trolls and so on. I'm sure there are more once I have a bit more time. Humans and Orks seem to have the highest population density making them the easiest to locate. though at this distance I can only give a general reading of these areas nothing more. These seem to be the areas of greatest density of each race."

In the middle of the table, a coloured Globe sprang up with several high lighted areas spread across several large areas. Tyr leaned forward in his chair to get a better view of the map. Humans seemed to have the smallest area but the highest population density, while dragons seemed the most spread out, though the lightest colour showed that their population was quite small.

"As we get closer or if I use more powerful spells I can learn more."

Tyr shook his head.

"No, we have no idea who's down there. Our biggest advantage at the moment is the fact that no one knows we're here. Better to keep it that way for as long as possible I think. Not to mention we have no idea how powerful the inhabitants of this world are."

"Yes my lord."

Argus rumbled. Tyr turned to Tiamat.

"How long will it take to move Nexus from our current position and, make planetfall?"

Tiamat leaned forward in her chair and tapped several buttons on the screen before her.

"About a week my lord, we could make it there quicker but I'd be worried about causing damage the Nexus."

The image of Nexus coming apart in the depths of space leaving them all stranded with only a slow painful death to look forward to sprang to mind. Shaking his head he leaned back in his chair.

"There doesn't seem to be any reason to rush, and it gives us all time to prepare. I want each of you to spend some time in the Dojo practising your ability's and magic and make sure that all of your areas are functioning properly, and haven't suffered any damage from coming here. Also, make sure all the NPC's made it and are alright. Tiamat I want a complete diagnostic run on the base's systems to make sure that there all up and running properly. Once all of your checks are completed I'd like each of you to come to me and report on your the state of your floor."

There were nods up and down the table. Usal reached over and gave a gentle tap on Q's head when he saw that he wasn't paying attention causing him to sit bolt upright, the white tufts of hair coming out of his ears seemed to stand on end from his shock. Smiling Tyr Looked up to Argus.

"I need you to find a quite out of the way place where we can land and hide Nexus. Talk with Tiamat, you have five days. Any ideas any of you may have pass them along in your daily reports to Tiamat. Now one more thing."

Reaching into his pocket dimension he began pulling out guild rings. Once he had enough for each of them of the guardians he focused for a second and several small dragons appeared in front of each of the rings. He mentally nudged each of his creations to pick up a ring each in their tiny claws. They took flight and flew to each of the guardians, dropping their cargo into there outstretched hands. Each of the guardians had a look of shock and great joy plastered on there faces as they received there own ring. He had to smile at the looks on all of the guardian's faces.

" I wish for each of you to become familiar with all of Nexus not just your own floors, so once things calm down a bit and you have some free time have a good look around and get to know each other. There is only one rule in regards to these rings. That is they are not to be taken off base for any reason. Is that clear."

Nods and agreement rippled up and down the table.

Each of you has my deepest trust we have fought some of the greatest threats in Yggdrasil and triumphed over them all I have no doubt that we will triumph over this too"

Reaching forward and placing his right-hand flat on the table, everyone else stood reaching forward and did the same, as he called out the guilds mantra.

"In God we trust. Everyone else we monitor."

Smiling he looked around the table.

"Good I will see each of you soon I'm sure."

Tyr gave one last nod to the table and then disappeared.

The NPC's all looked around the table at each other not quite sure what to say...

Tiamat stood up and walked to the head of the table catching everyone's eye. Leaning forward on the table catching everyone's eye like she had seen her lord do.

" You heard our First Lord, we all have a lot of work to do over the next few days."

* * *

Tyr appeared in front of his private room. The wooden doors set with a beautiful depiction of the world tree carved into the door in silver and showing all nine worlds resting on its leaves. Looking about the hall he smiled.

"Adam, Jason are you there?"

There was a ripple on either side of the door, as Adam Jensen and Jason Bourne cancelled there greater invisibility rings. Stepping forward and bowed in front of Tyr.

"First Lord."

They intoned together. Marvelling again for a moment that a couple of his favourite old-time fictional characters had taken on a life of there own. These two being part of a personal indulgence of having his own personal body guards\Strike-force. Both were dressed in ¾ length great coats and light leather armour. Both with short swords and Adams sunglasses glowed as they scanned the corridor for possible threats. Jasons Jet black metal wings which he had wrapped around his body looking like a coat reflected the light of his feathers as he scanned the corridor for possible threats to his creator.

Remembering he'd lost interest in the project at less than halfway through building them since so many of the guild members had stopped coming in leaving them stuck at about somewhere between level 20-40, he'd have to check later. He noticed that list of things to look into later was getting awfully long. What they lacked in raw power though they more than made up for in teamwork and versatility. That was the most important point when he had started building them.

"Gentlemen. Has everything been quiet here while I've been gone"

They both nodded stoically.

"Come inside I need to talk to you all."

They both silently moved to take up station a step behind him. Approaching his door, a set of twenty glyphs carved into the side of the door glowed a soft blue as he approached. Pressing eight of the glyphs in order the doors silently opened, allowing him to walk inside. He was dreading this side trip here. But he needed to pick up a lot of his gear that he'd unequipped and left in his room on the last day.

Pausing on the threshold not quite sure what to expect here.

He knew how he had set up his room, but by now he knew that he might end up regretting that indulgence. The room was huge far larger than it should be since he had customised it and spent his own money to bring it up to his own standards of what a master spy's bachelor pad should look like. A large single story beautiful wooden house that looked out onto a private beach. He could hear some seagulls calling outside and the smell of the ocean was carried in on a gentle breeze that gently wafted in through a couple open windows.

three beautiful women were spread about the main room, reading or cleaning weapons or just generally relaxing. Trying not to think about what they were all wearing or lack thereof, he walked into the room. One of the women looked up noticing him entering the room. Shock and joy quickly crossed her face as she leapt out of the chair she had been sitting in, dropping the book she had been reading.

"Master!"

She called as she sped across the room, the other women looked up at her cry and got up and started running towards him. Thinking that under any normal circumstances having three gorgeous women wearing next to nothing running towards him with smiles on there faces, should be a dream come true. Right now all he felt was uncomfortable and a bit embarrassed at his fantasy that was currently flying towards him wearing what counted only as a few pieces of strategically placed cloth on these three world-class beauty's. He had based them on his favourite old time spy women from fiction. They had been programmed to be part of his personal guard/ Courtesans for the first lord of Nexus. **Money Penny** threw herself into his arms almost purring, as she hugged and kissed him, the others were only a step behind

 **Sarah Walker** , **Natasha Romanoff** , they all crowded around him smiling and asking questions about where he had been, and how glad they were to see him. Smiling down at them, he Waved them off a little and led them all outside to a large dining table set up on a patio overlooking the beach. Never having seen a real beach before outside of a movie or book he couldn't help but admiring the beaches beautiful, the crystal blue waters that seemed to cry out for him to jump in and go for a swim.

Shaking of the indulgence for later he sat down and explained the situation again to everyone.

The same looks of shock and dismay were repeated over again by them, but it was easier this time. As he explained the plan that he had all the Guardians following and how busy they would be over the next couple of days. They quickly dispersed as he assigned them tasks. They all walked into his walk-in armoury\personal workshop where he kept all his best/favourite outfits and weapons neatly ordered and laid out ready to use, alongside several small workstations littered with several disassembled devices and weapons.

Everyone went to there own area and geared up. The women made him blush as they unselfconsciously stripped off their outfits and dressed in their skin-tight black one-piece scale mail armour with several straps for swords and guns and assorted gadgets. While the guys did the same on the other side with there more futuristic style armour from the fall of Valkyrie patch. He noted that Adams cybernetic body parts looked like they could use some work, and Jason had several large bruises on his body. Remembering that though they were as brothers they had a fierce competitive streak going about who was better, at pretty much anything. It looked like they had tried to kill each other while sparing. Well, at least he hoped it was sparing. Tyr looked at them both had they slipped into there armours.

Taking a healing potion from the shelf he threw it at Jason's back, without turning about Jason caught the thrown potion.

"go easy on each other huh. And Adam make sure you go and see Q get him to give you a check up on Cybernetics."

He said to both of them. A collective grunt from them both was all the response he expected from them.

Tyr Walked to the back of the room where a large heavily reinforced door made out of black prismatic metal. This led to his very best gear. Quickly working through all of the security countermeasures the huge door slowly opened up, displaying his several sets of god tier weapons and armour. Reaching out to a black floating ball, the liquid flowed over his clothing consuming the simple garment he was wearing before reforming into a dark grey [Shinobi Shozoku] outfit. Moving about the vault Tyr carried on equipping all of his best and most powerful gear he could feel his power increase by orders of magnitude as he donned each new piece, and refilled up his inventory back up to its full capacity. Smiling to himself he couldn't help but smile as Sarah and Natasha both teased Money Penny about something. This is going to be interesting, he thought to himself as he fitted his last bracer into place with a quiet click.


End file.
